Last week I ventured down to Upright Brewing in Portland and spoke with Alex Ganum, owner of Upright. He introduced me to Supercool IPA as a “straight up IPA”. As a huge India Pale Ale fan, that’s all I needed to hear. 🙂

Supercool IPA is a super limited release and is described this way:

(Supercool IPA has) No twists, no odd processing or ingredients, just a grip of pale malt, pinch of vienna and special roast and plenty of nugget, columbus and santiam hops. We snagged a pitch of yeast from a brewery down the street and let it rip in our conical fermenter.

I asked Alex more about the yeast and he told me it originates from Amnesia Brewing,just up the street from Upright. He went on to say it has medium intensity and they used Santiam hops because it leaves a nice floral note on the palette.

When I pour Supercool IPA from the growler, it has a hazy golden brown hue. There’s a slight white head to this beer – but it isn’t very carbonated at all.

To the tongue, Supercool IPA has a hoppy but not overly bitter taste to it. It has a definitive citrus hint to the slightly floral flavor. I would describe the taste as impactful, but not overwhelming.

Beer drinkers who don’t like a “slap you in the face” strong IPA would enjoy Supercool as it’s balanced hoppyness does not overwhelm.

Look for Supercool IPA at Portand-area pubs on tap as it’s not being bottled.